REBA appeal headed to 1st Circuit

The state Real Estate Bar Association is taking its appeal of last year’s $900,000 judgment against the organization to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 1st Circuit has scheduled oral arguments in the case for May 4.

The appeal will challenge a U.S. District Court verdict in a lawsuit REBA filed against out-of-state defendants that REBA claimed had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in Massachusetts by performing real estate conveyances and issuing title insurance.

Not only did U.S. District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro rule in favor of the defendant, National Real Estate Information Services, he also agreed with NREIS’ assertion that REBA’s interpretation of the practice of law violated the Dormant Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Tauro awarded attorneys’ fees to NREIS.

Both the Mass. Bar Association and Boston Bar Association have filed amicus briefs in the 1st Circuit appeal. The MBA brief argues that NREIS engaged in the unauthorized practice of law via its role in real estate transactions. The BBA brief takes no position on that issue or the Commerce Clause dispute, but argues that imposing liability against a bar organization for bringing a non-frivolous lawsuit “chills the rights of all potential litigants to petition the court for redress of grievances.”